State Senator Fred Love (D-Little Rock) and chief deputy county attorney Veletta Smith have resigned their positions in Pulaski County government less than two weeks after Love filed a report with a federal agency regarding alleged fraud in the county’s Section 8 housing voucher program. The county fired three employees in July for conspiracy to commit fraud, and an investigation is ongoing.
Madeline Roberts, the county’s communications director, said Monday that County Judge Barry Hyde did not ask Love to resign and that his resignation does not indicate he was involved in the alleged fraud.
As Pulaski County’s director of community services, Love oversees several departments, including housing. He will continue in that role until Aug. 23. Love began working with the county in 2010 and earns an annual salary of $101,476, Roberts said.
Love was elected to the state Senate last year after serving in the state House of Representatives from 2011 to 2022.
Smith submitted her resignation on Tuesday and will stay in her role with the county until Aug. 25. Roberts said she did not know if Hyde had asked for Smith to resign but said that the resignation does not indicate Smith had been involved in the alleged fraud. Smith has worked for the county since 2017 and earns a salary of $108,483, Roberts said.
Love’s and Smith’s resignation letters have not been processed and are not available yet, Roberts said.
On Aug. 2, Hyde sent letters to Pulaski County Prosecuting Attorney Will Jones, Attorney General Tim Griffin and Wanda Merritt of the local U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) field office asking them to investigate allegations of fraud and conspiracy to commit fraud, waste and abuse in the Housing Choice Voucher Program, formerly known as Section 8.
Hyde’s letters offered some chronology of the reporting of the fraud allegations but few clues about their substance. On July 26, Hyde wrote, Love reported the allegations to Anthony Landecker, a HUD field office director.
Love’s email to Landecker said, “It has come to my attention that there are several potential issues of fraud.” Love said he had terminated several employees “associated with this conspiracy to commit fraud” and that he and others were going through files to ensure “we get to the bottom of this.” Love told the federal official he planned to issue letters to ineligible tenants who had been placed on a voucher waitlist and ineligible landlords receiving subsidies. Love also planned to audit files and turn them over to the Pulaski County prosecutor, he said.
Landecker responded a little more than an hour later: “I am acknowledging receipt here, and appreciate your leadership in the action steps below,” he wrote. Landecker referred Love to the HUD Office of Inspector General, where he spoke with a representative and initiated an official online request for assistance.
On Aug. 2, Love spoke with Jones and requested an investigation. Jones referred Love to Ryan Cooper in the investigative division of the state attorney general’s office. Cooper indicated he would speak with his division chief and follow up with Love on how to proceed. In a text message today, Love referred all questions to Roberts, the county’s director of communications.
Jones said Friday that he did not know if the attorney general’s office was conducting an investigation. Jeff LeMaster, a spokesman for the attorney general’s office, said the office was “aware of the allegations and cannot provide additional information at this time.”
The terminated Pulaski County employees were Keya Brooks, the director of housing administration; Wilalice Young, a housing program technician; and Benjamin Alexander, a housing inspector. Brooks was fired on July 19; Young and Alexander were fired on July 21.
The termination details for each employee stated they were not eligible for rehire and said they were terminated because of “conspiracy to commit fraud against the Pulaski County Housing Agency and the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development.”
Brooks and Young began work with the county in August last year. Alexander started in 2010, although in a different department.
The county has hired local accounting firm EGP LLC to conduct a forensic audit of its housing program. The audit started last week, Roberts said. Forensic accounting involves actions related to “criminal matters that typically arise in the aftermath of fraud,” according to the company’s website.
The county does not know how much money was misused and is notifying recipients who have been identified as receiving benefits incorrectly. Those recipients are entitled to a hearing if they request it. A hearing officer will determine if the department’s determination was correct or incorrect, Roberts said.